The famously developed Portuguese banking system has many options for anyone coming into the country. While you can naturally opt for choosing an international bank that also happens to have Portuguese branches, choosing directly one of the Portuguese banks is a perfect option for prospective residents. Since Portugal is a Eurozone country, you can transfer money from the rest of the Eurozone without worrying about conversion fees.
Multibanco
One of the significant advantages of choosing a Portuguese bank is gaining access to the Multibanco system. This unique network, which is sometimes called the most complete financial system in Europe, connects all the major Portuguese banks and offers universal ATMs; customers of the connected banks can withdraw funds without any fees. It also provides the benefit of performing 60 additional services, including paying taxes, social security contributions, utility bills, or even buying cinema tickets. There are more than 12 000 Multibanco ATMs around Portugal, so you should be able to easily access your finances nearly anywhere in the country, including small towns and villages.
Choosing a bank
If you have already decided to choose one of the Portuguese banks to manage your money in the country, you will, of course, need to pick one of the available banks. The most intuitive choice might be going for Millenium BCP, which is the high street brand name for branches of Banco Commercial Português, the biggest private bank in Portugal. You will need a minimum deposit of €150 to open an account, which can also be paid in some other currencies, including the United States and the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, South African rand, or Polish zloty.
Another good choice might be Caixa Geral de Depositos, the second-largest bank in Portugal and publicly owned. It offers an option to open a particular account for a foreign currency. While based in Portugal, this bank also functions internationally and is present in 23 countries. If you intend to communicate with your bank in English, it might be a good idea to choose Novobanco, which offers a “Golden Key Account“. With this account, you can access English assistance 24/7.
You may also be interested in the 18.31 account designed to be eco-friendly via offsetting carbon emissions. Another excellent choice for English speaking customers is ActivoBank. This is a subsidiary of Millenium BCP, which will allow you to use its ATMs and even for cash deposits. Employees are known to speak perfect English, and all relevant information is also available in English. They conveniently operate as a paperless bank, which means you will not be getting your bills and bank mail in your mailbox. They also have minimal (if any) maintenance fees.
Summary
These are the top banks to choose from as an ex-pat in Portugal. There are naturally plenty other options – as said before, the Portuguese banking system is widely known to be complex, advanced, and convenient, so this is not an area in which you should run into any problem while living in Portugal. With the Multibanco system catering to the customers of the vast majority of Portuguese banks, your access to financial services should be perfectly comfortable wherever in the country you find yourself.
